Playing Death
by strychix
Summary: The shinigami realm has lost two members. They need to be replaced. Beyond Birthday, L Lawliet, Nate Rivers, and Light Yagami are all chosen to compete over the power of a death god. Real ending to Death Note anime/manga was changed very slightly.


_AUTHORS NOTES: In this, please consider that Near has used the Death Note in attempt to kill Kira. Ryuk had gotten to it first, and therefore had been the one to kill him, but Near (in attempt not to let Kira get away) decided to use the Death Note once in his entire life, and is being punished for something that didn't even work._

_I am not the creator of Death Note, I am not making any money whatsoever off of this story and other people's characters. Hell, I'm not even making money period._

**---o---o---o---**

Mu was indeed nothing. Blankness, emptyness. It wasn't even darkness, per say, it was just null. It was like it didn't even exist, like you didn't exist. You were just left with nothing but your thoughts, your memories. Your dreams and nightmares, though you didn't exactly sleep either. You weren't aware of any time. You were just left to consider how you had wasted your life. Reflect on what you could, no should, have done differently. This was actually an apt punishment for those who used the death note because sooner or later you begin to doubt your choices, if you didn't before, and you eventually come to terms with certain elements about yourself. Yet you knew it wouldn't make a difference because you were dead. And a dead person changing for the better is even more unlikely than a living one changing for the better - which was rare and usually took a traumatic humbling experience. The world had trauma and drama, but very few things humbled a person.

Sooner or later you end up resigning to 'it's all in the past, I can't change anything' but that still doesn't make the torture of mentally reliving your worst experiences and choices, recalling your most embarrassing moments, go away. Nothing could make that torture go away once it had been set into your mindset. And sooner or later you realize one more thing; why should you keep your sanity? It's not like you will need it. And it begins to slip away.

Then again, if you used the Death Note, were you ever really sane?

Two people had to take this route. One of them had not been sane, one of them had. Or at least close to it.

The other route was for those who had not written in the Death Note and both of them, if you look at their sins (which they both had), should have gone to Hell. But time passed quickly. Mu meant nothingness and perhaps it was just another form of Mu, because there was nothing between the time they died and the time they woke up. Don't worry, it will be explained in a moment.

Two others passed through this way. One of them had not been sane, one of them had. Or at least close to it.

Four men woke simutaneously and next to eachother on sandy ground and when they opened their eyes, they met the same grey nothingness one would expect of Mu but this was not Mu. Mu had been where they had been before - right? It took them all, even though they were all geniuses, to realize eachothers presence, in which they immediately bolted to their feet and backed away from eachother.

Light, L, Beyond Birthday, Near. Two of them knew who every single member of the party was, two did not. That is, because, L had been aware of the appearance of Kira as well as the Wammy House children. Light, of course, had seen all of them - including Beyond Birthday - because he had to know his face (which had a before and after image on the website, now his burns seemed to have disappeared) and name in order to have brought him to mercy so many years ago.

Years ago? What time was this? Beyond Birthday, L, Light, Near. They had died in that order. So why are they here waking up at the same time? Especially since the last two to die had seemed to spend eternity in thought while Beyond Birthday and L had been safe from Mu. It only took them a moment to all determine they were no harm to eachother - none of them had physically attacked eachother before, with the exception of the raging Light, but Light now had no Death Note and therefore even if he was to physically attack them, it wouldn't be all hard to retain him. N returned to his kneeling position. L crouched down low, B sat and wrapped his arms around his knees. And Light, he stood, looking down on them but not in a superior way, in a way that he didn't fit. As if he was the odd one out. As if, among all these strange, bent, weird mannerismed creatures, he was the weird one.

He physically took a step back.

They didn't say a word. Near twirled his hair femininely, L bit his thumb, and BB held his knees like a child but looked not nearly as cute. He didn't know why Beyond Birthday, a murderer brought to justice by him, fit into their group. Then he realized that, in a faint way, he kind of looked like L. That is, if he sent his hair through a tornado and wore the same clothes along with some makeup. Of course, Beyond Birthday was unbelievably taller. But they both had the same skin color, hair color. Near, too, was pale but he knew the story behind the relation between him and L. Perhaps Beyond Birthday was another member of the SPK or something. What a small world.

No, he had just killed that many people.

Soon they were surrounded by shingami and not even half a thought went by before the geniuses knew who the creatures were, and where they were. That is, except for B. But B, despite his shock, kept quiet. After all, he had spent his entire life looking at the time when people would die. There was eleven of them. The most impressive of them, one covered in jewels, approached slightly more than the rest and laughed. B's back straightened slightly. "Henh henh henh henh!" That was the only laugh he did naturally. "You four have been chosen."

"Chosen for what, exactly?" Light blurted out. The rest felt like scorning him but did not. They were curious as well.

"A game. A puzzle. A bet." This of course piqued all these mens' interest. Games, puzzles, bets - that's what they did best. "As you can see, there are only eleven of us. Plus the king, but he stays out of sight. One wouldn't even really count him as a Shinigami in the normal sense..." He hummed roughly, then took another step, looking at them with red eyes. "Death's number is supposed to be thirteen." Again, this reached B's interest. He was hooked. There was eleven of them, and four men. That meant a competition where only two could win. He could be part of a thirteen, which he had a bit of an obsession over, as well as defeat L.

The others weren't as impressed. "Why?" L asked simply, not bothering to take his finger out of his mouth. "Why us?" He clarified. Perhaps they weren't all as intelligent as Rem.

More laughing, and this time it sparked Light's memories. It was Ryuk. "Hyuk, hyuk!" He let Justin continue. "Ryuk said it would be fun. You all have been enemies with one another - or at the very least competition. The harder it is for you all, the better our betting anyways." So when they said games and bets, it did mean the four men, but it mainly meant the shinigami. They were just looking for some entertainment. Justin continued. "Whoever wins will be a shinigami, whoever loses - well, they'll go to Mu."

Light was sold at the idea of becoming a death god, but the idea of going to Mu was no prize either. He nodded, accepting. That made two; if Near and L dropped out now, there would be no need to even compete. The fact that Light had joined in made L join in. After all, he wasn't interested in justice as much as he was interested in winning. Anyways, Kira back in action - even if he was a shinigami, was a bad thing. The fact that L accepted made Near accept. He wasn't fond of Mu either but he wanted to be there to win in case L fell. Again.

They all nodded, they hadn't even changed their positions. There was laughter and the Shinigami flew away but to a visable area where they sat around a large, flat, circular rock and began to play what looked like cards a hundred meters away. Some of them left entirely but not many. L turned to B and Kira, deciding to get it over with.

"B, this is Kira. Kira, this is B." He said formally before standing and beginning to stalk off. Near looked as if he really didn't want to walk but followed his predecessor anyways. B stood, looking at Light. Beyond Birthday was a lot taller but crouched so he was slightly shorter than Light. Light decided to say something first. "My name is Light, nice to meet you Beyond Birthday. I brought you to justice for those murders."

"They were going to die anyways."

"What?"

"I was able to see when they were going to die. I just used them to make a case to defeat L."

Light was shocked, stunned, and quite frankly he could tell B was as well. But Beyond shrugged and began to walk off. Sure, it had been his first admittance but it didn't matter now. His eyes were useless here, where people were already dead. However, Light realized something and it took him a long moment before he headed toward the meeting area. He had killed the person that would had made his best ally. That, right there, seemed more harmful to his psyche than all of Mu's torture.

Good thing he got to start anew.


End file.
